


happiness; difference; twin-speak

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [22]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Gen, Introspection, Post-Ravening War, Pre-Canon, sort of a kid fic?, this fic is just a long form version of sprinkle as diana in that “oh a baby!” gif
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24897544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: The twin princesses are born, and Sprinkle (learns) (grows) (finds purpose)
Relationships: Sprinkle (Dimension 20) & Ruby Rocks & Jet Rocks
Series: dimension 20 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 26
Kudos: 52





	happiness; difference; twin-speak

**Author's Note:**

> oh did you think i was off my bullshit, NOPE, head full MANY sprinkle thoughts  
> not sure how to tag it but brief, vague mentions of cara giving birth to the twins. nothing graphic but her screaming is mentioned

As Sprinkle learns, time passes- more than days and nights and weeks, even, _years_ pass and sprinkle gets- older! learns ease, which is familiarity made familiar- and he learns more about the Place that is his home.

And then they leave home and see other Places, _so many_ other places! Sprinkle meets many, so many new _people!_ But there is one person, the important person, like how Lazuli-Blue was to Summoner-Theo but isn’t anymore because she is gone- dead, lost, mourned- concepts that Sprinkle takes in and learns with sadness- sadness, another new concept, one that is heavy, but not devotion-heavy, like a mantle on shoulders, but muffling, choking, strangling kind of heavy-

Sprinkle meets the Prince-Amethar. He is big and loud- big like Summoner-Theo but also like friendly arms thrown over stranger’s shoulders and Sprinkle learns about _presence_ ; and he is loud like no one, nothing Sprinkle has ever met. He sees Sprinkle and laughs- laughter! an action and a creation, taking happiness and making the air vibrate with it!-

Sprinkle discovers laughter on a Place he will later learn is the Battlefield when irony is still something unfamiliar to him and as Prince-Amethar laughs and pets Sprinkle, Sprinkle will purr and make his hollow self vibrate with his own laughter, which is not the same but different to the Prince-Amethar’s laughter, and difference! The gulfs between the opposites, such a _wondrous_ thing, _difference_ , and people are made up of so many differences!

The Prince-Amethar brings his happiness into the air and Sprinkle responds to it in kind and it is good and joyful and Sprinkle decides laughter is one of the best things he has learned.

Laughter is not the only thing Sprinkle learns in the long years he spends at- war. War is another thing, like Devotion, that Sprinkle does not have the words for, it seems too big and heavy and bloody- it soaks into the words and drags them down, drowns them. War is _greedy_ \- greedy! wanting! selfish! new words, odd words, Sprinkle finds them hard to understand.

He wants to help, to distract, to sparkle and laugh and be _happy_ , but greed is not the happy-want, the soft-longing, it is rough and tight, squeezes you dry and takes and takes and takes- war _takes_!

Sprinkle thinks of Lazuli-Blue, a hand on Summoner-Theo’s shoulder that Sprinkle feels and does not through their link, thinks of her body- fragile and intricate, bodies, Sprinkle thinks of his own body and is both grateful and not to be so simple, so hard to snuff out- thinks of how Lazuli-Blue crumpled on the ground, and thinks of taking and does not decide anything. Decides war is complicated and bad and necessary and hateful and _hard_.

More time passes and sprinkle learns and learns and learns, fills himself out with learning and thoughts and feelings and learns how to make himself heard- not in the way of Lazuli-Blue and Summoner-Theo, not quite the same, but Summoner-Theo understands him and his speaking translates Sprinkle to the world.

Then one day Summoner-Theo is Excited and Afraid? and feeling many things at once that Sprinkle has learned is simply how most people feel, which seems hard and complicated but Sprinkle is getting the hang of it, he thinks, as best a sprinkle can.

Summoner-Theo stands guard outside a room that contains screams- Sprinkle wonders why Summoner-Theo doesn’t enter because screams mean danger mean _need to protect_ mean _need to be a shield_ and in all of the many years of Sprinkle’s existence Summoner-Theo has never chosen to stand still when he should be running to aid, to shield, to protect. 

Sprinkle notices the way his Summoner-Theo’s paw twitches to the sword at his hip when another scream comes, but he does not wield it? and Sprinkle does not understand. Prods at his Summoner-Theo’s hand, neck, chin; is lightly moved away (Sprinkle has always been lightly moved away, gently chided- Summoner-Theo is strong and a Fighter but he has always been soft and kind to Sprinkle) but Sprinkle does not _understand_.

Sprinkle squeals and squeaks his confusion, out loud and through their link, and Summoner-Theo sighs and then Sprinkle understands _creation_ is happening. Twirls and flows through the air because Sprinkle remembers being created and how _wonderful!_ to be able to help more through their first stumbling understandings of things like concepts and thoughts and mind-having!

This is not helping in the way he has learned or distracting in the way he has learned but it is _guiding_ , in a way that Sprinkle is made for, and so Sprinkle hovers excitedly around his Summoner-Theo to meet the new sprinkles.

It is not until many hours later, however. The windows have long since gone dark and the screams have stopped but still Summoner-Theo stands still at the door, until it is opened and Prince-Amethar is there, grinning- smiling! happy! but happy seems inadequate, seems almost to dim the brightness of the smile, Sprinkle tries to categorize and the closest he can come is _devotion-joy-wonder-awe-love love love love_ and the Prince-Amethar has something tiny, _tiny_! sprinkle-sized! in his arms.

The sprinkle is round, and pink, very pink, and not a sprinkle but a miniature! a- _baby!_ Sprinkle decides what is front and noses the little pink sprinkle gently and the little pink one _coos_ and Sprinkle coos back and then Summoner-Theo is apologizing though Sprinkle doesn’t understand _why_ and Prince-Amethar is laughing loud and delighted and Sprinkle hears _another_ coo and sees another sprinkle! Blue! _Blue!_ held in the-Queen-Lady-Caramelinda's arms, and the-Queen-Lady-Caramelinda looks tired and Sprinkle floats hesitantly, because Sprinkle doesn’t know if the-Queen-Lady-Caramelinda wishes for company or not and there are some tirednesses that long for sprinkle-nudges and some that flinch away, but the-Queen-Lady-Caramelinda sees him and sighs with- amusement!- and nods.

Sprinkle noses other blue sprinkle and other blue sprinkle babbles and waves it’s little- arms! around and Sprinkle wishes for legs so he could jump with joy.

Soon, Summoner-Theo and Sprinkle leave and Summoner-Theo tells him in not so many words that he must not do that, that he must show respect to The-King and The-Queen, but Sprinkle has learned Devotion already, and has been in the world long enough to know he has done no disrespect. Sprinkle decides Summoner-Theo should lean into joy more and if he has no joy of his own to lean into right now then Sprinkle will create some. So Sprinkle curls around Summoner-Theo’s neck and purrs laughter and refuses to move.

As even _more_ time passes- Sprinkle knows what time is now but the more of it that passes the more he’s surprised by how very _much_ of it there is- and Sprinkle learns that they are called Princess-Ruby and Princess-Jet and that they are- twins! alike! mirrors!- and Sprinkle takes it upon himself to teach them.

Sprinkle twists and curls above their cribs and dances just out of their reach so that when they do catch him they giggle with delight. He burbles happily at them and they coo right back and Sprinkle doesn’t realize they’ve created- _created!_ \- their own language; taken sounds and made them words- until Princess-Ruby tells Princess-Jet _I’m hungry_ and Sprinkle, delighted to understand a conversation not through his Summoner-Theo’s link but through _himself_ , asks, _What’s hungry?_

The Twin-Princesses teach him _many_ things! They teach him mischief and fun and in return Sprinkle teaches them how to be small, how to fit into small places and how to distract with your smallness and it is good! great! feels _connected_ and Sprinkle understands, not just through Summoner-Theo’s understanding, _why_ Summoner-Theo chose Devotion to the Rocks-Family. Sprinkle has chosen it too, and it is a good choice.

They grow, still small and squishy- very squishy, without even Sprinkle’s armor, and Sprinkle realizes they will need someone to shield-protect-help them and Sprinkle decides he will simply have to be a sprinkle-shield for the Twin-Princesses.

The Twin-Princesses grow and grow and begin to Wander. They grow out of the small places that Sprinkle teaches them to hide in and start to search for other places, and when they disappear Summoner-Theo worries, is anxious-concerned and so Sprinkle is worried-anxious-concerned.

But they come back, they bounce and glide almost like Sprinkle but they can’t fly- sad, but a soft sad, not like the sadness of Lazuli-Blue and absence- and Sprinkle decides he feels Pride and even though when they disappear to- _run off, make trouble, skip class_ \- Wander he is stressed-anxious-concerned, he is also Proud because they have a little of what Sprinkle once was in them- the ever twisting movement, the longing to be nothing and everything and everywhere, _free._

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell i had no fucking clue what to title this


End file.
